For the love of Egypt: To strike or donate?

In early March, TV host Amr Adeeb called for an initiative dubbed "Give Egypt a Chance" to stop all labor protests for six months as the country passes through a period of dire economic uncertainty. 

"Enough strikes... Give a chance to Egypt... Spread the word everywhere," Adeeb said on his show Al-Qahera Al-Youm. In six months, he stressed, there will be an elected president and a parliament that can handle all these demands, however now Egypt is still suffering from "three years of terrorism." 

Adeeb's suggestion received mixed reactions, some endorsing it and others criticizing him. 

But other people responded in kind. 

"For Egypt, you Amr" is a Facebook group established by activists in response to Adeeb's call.

"In response, here is an initiative whereby all media professionals, football players, actors and actresses, ministers, generals, deputy ministers, heads of authorities and judges... give up their incomes that are worth billions on a monthly basis and be content with the LE1,200 minimum wage for six months."

The counter-initiative additionally suggested that businessmen dispense 95 percent of their revenues for a six-month period and all Egyptians donate half their wealth. 

"All this money can go into a fund that can certainly fix Egypt's debts and build national projects that will make citizens of the Gulf strive to come and work in Egypt."

The page, whose content hinges between sarcasm and seriousness, moves on to cite sample salaries of TV hosts, which are all in the range of hundreds of thousands per month. 

Labor protests have been on the rise ever since a commitment to issue a national minimum wage by the end of January was not met by the government. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights cited an increasing flow of workers protesters between January and March this year.

Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi's outgoing cabinet reportedly resigned as a result of the wave of industrial unrest.

On Sunday, the newly elected Ministry of Manpower and Migration under new Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb held a conference introducing a code of honor to "stop strikes and sit-ins in order to build the Egyptian economy and settle labor demands." The code, suggested by Mehleb, was slammed by independent trade unions.